Some of us buy fresh meat from the market, whereas others buy frozen meat. Whatever you’re buying, there might be a slight difference between the weight of these two meats. What weighs more then?
Does frozen meat weigh more? There’s a scientific reason behind frozen food items weighing more. When you freeze meat, the air gets stuck inside it through a small hole. It’s also because of the ice stuck on frozen meat.
We freeze water for various reasons, such as making cold coffee or putting it in our champagne glasses. But have you ever wondered does frozen water weighs more? This is because water expands when frozen, so does its weight increase too?
Suppose you froze one glass of water to freeze. One glass of frozen water will weigh the same as the one glass of liquid water because of the law of conservation of mass. This law states that water’s weight doesn’t increase after freezing because it was neither destroyed nor created during the process.
All that happened was a change from liquid condition to frozen condition. Therefore, there’s no change in the weight. However, the density of frozen water is less than its liquid form. That’s why ice floats when you put it in a glass of water.
One gallon of water weighs about 8.3 pounds. As we mentioned earlier, the weight of the water doesn’t change when you freeze it. So a gallon of frozen water will also weigh around 8.3 pounds, just like normal water.
However, you’ll feel like carrying a solid box instead of water flowing from one side to another and troubling you.
Meat is neither liquid nor solid. There are a bunch of small holes present in the meat that gives enough space for water and air to be packed inside. When you buy packed and processed meat, there’s water and air present inside it. So when you freeze it, the water inside it converts to ice.
Yes, water, when frozen, has the same weight it had earlier. But now it’s present inside the meat, so it’s adding to the weight of the meat by becoming solid. The air pockets also get frozen, and they add to the weight of the meat too.
So when you weigh frozen meat, you’re not only weighing meat but also the frozen air and frozen water present inside.
Frozen meat has more weight than non-frozen meat because of the trapped, frozen air and water. But when we talk about thawed meat, the reason is entirely different.
Yes, frozen meat has more weight than thawed meat, but due to a completely different reason. When you thaw meat, you take air and water outside of it. This made the meat shrink and lose a little weight.
So when you compare the weight of those two meats, frozen meat is obviously going to take the lead. Thawed meat loses some of its quality during the process, but it’s still safe to eat.